Well, some deals are announced within days of the deal being made. Those are the ones you hear about right away. Sometimes, the agent waits until the contract is signed and countersigned, and that can take months. Sometimes, the deal isn't announced - then the book just appears.

It depends on the agent, and the author, the editor, and the size of the deal. And happenstance.

I have a question! How often do you get a manuscript and ask them to change its tense/person? I've been changing one of my manuscripts to 1st person, and having visions of an editor asking me to change it *again* to something new. How likely is this, and why would a decision like this be made? Just out of curiosity.

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"If I fall asleep with a pen in my hand, don't remove it - I might be writing in my dreams." ~Terri Guillemets

For me, I think it's more likely that I would pass on the submission rather than ask for a tense change. I might say that I really liked it, but wonder if it might be stronger with this direction and say I'd be open to reconsidering if the author revises.

I know it seems mean and cruel, but as I'm sure you've experienced in doing your flip, changing such a big piece of the project is very time intensive, and I don't always have the luxury of time to wait, unfortunately.

Question for you guys: What genre are you not seeing that you wish would make a comeback? Why? Give me your dream book in this scenario.

I'll start you off. In the last few weeks, I've been vaguely wondering why there isn't much Western YA. Western, you ask? That's sort of strange, Alison. Well, I had a thing with the ABC Family show Wildfire when it was on air, and I totally can see that translating to great, twisty, angsty YA.

I haven't been asking myself that, but I have been prodding the market for adventure and mystery stories that have nothing to do with magic/dystopias. I think this is a great hole to be filled, and I think we're seeing more and more thrillers heading that way, so I'm hoping mysteries will heat up soon. *may have a mystery* :

I also want to see more sibling relationships and more complicated friendships (not romance). Then the whole low fantasy thing (characters from our world find their way into other worlds), which is so wonderfully done in MG, but skirted in YA, where the characters stumble upon paranormal races but don't actually find a new world like Narnia or Beyonders or something.

Editor Alison wrote:For me, I think it's more likely that I would pass on the submission rather than ask for a tense change. I might say that I really liked it, but wonder if it might be stronger with this direction and say I'd be open to reconsidering if the author revises.

I know it seems mean and cruel, but as I'm sure you've experienced in doing your flip, changing such a big piece of the project is very time intensive, and I don't always have the luxury of time to wait, unfortunately.

That makes total sense! Thank you. =)

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"If I fall asleep with a pen in my hand, don't remove it - I might be writing in my dreams." ~Terri Guillemets

Editor Alison wrote:Question for you guys: What genre are you not seeing that you wish would make a comeback? Why? Give me your dream book in this scenario.

I'll start you off. In the last few weeks, I've been vaguely wondering why there isn't much Western YA. Western, you ask? That's sort of strange, Alison. Well, I had a thing with the ABC Family show Wildfire when it was on air, and I totally can see that translating to great, twisty, angsty YA.

Your turn!

I don't think it's strange! I'd try out a Western YA. =)

Hmm... that's a hard one. It's like, I know what I'm sick of, more than what I'd like to see MORE of. Just anything that's outside the box. I agree with what Taryn says about more complicated family/friend relationships, and no so many romances. I love romances, don't get me wrong, but it'd be really neat to have a splash of something else thrown in there.

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"If I fall asleep with a pen in my hand, don't remove it - I might be writing in my dreams." ~Terri Guillemets

I'm curious about author visits to meet with editors. I have a friend with a Penguin publishing deal who recently flew to NYC to meet her editor and shoot some book-related videos for the publisher. Is that something that is common for authors? Do publishers pay for a trip like that, or would authors be expected to fund it themselves?

My answer is that it depends a great deal on the book. It may be sucky and unfair, but we all know that some books are bigger for publishers than others, and some get more attention and backing than others.

So depending on the scenario, I can see a publisher flying an author out to New York to shoot promotional video and do all kinds of stuff like that. I can also see scenarios where an author was going to be in New York anyhow (on vacation, visiting relatives, whatever) and the publisher tacks on visits or signings to take advantage).

Hi! My question is about agent-editor submissions. Very soon, I'll be done with my revisions and my agent will begin shopping it to editors. We've talked briefly before about whether or not I want those editors to know that I'm fifteen. So here's my question: Should I ask her to mention my age while pitching to editors? Or is it better to wait and mention that later? When I was querying, I never mentioned my age (and THAT made it extremely awkward when I finally told my agent when she called me...she was surprised, which I found extremely flattering . I did that because I wanted to be signed for my writing ability, not as a novelty item. But since this time my agent will be shopping to editors, I obviously want to do whatever it takes to see my name on a cover

Editor Alison wrote:My answer is that it depends a great deal on the book. It may be sucky and unfair, but we all know that some books are bigger for publishers than others, and some get more attention and backing than others.

So depending on the scenario, I can see a publisher flying an author out to New York to shoot promotional video and do all kinds of stuff like that. I can also see scenarios where an author was going to be in New York anyhow (on vacation, visiting relatives, whatever) and the publisher tacks on visits or signings to take advantage).

I understand the feeling that you don't want to be signed as a novelty--that you want to be signed for your ability. I respect that a great deal.

But as an editor, I have to admit that I'm not just signing up your book. I'm signing up the package of you and what you bring to the table. I can't bring any book to an acquisitions meeting without a plan about how we would use the author, what the author's resources are (and by that I mean social media, website, other authors they might be clicked in with, bookstore relationships, library relationships, etc.)

I might just fall in love with your writiing from the start, but my first call would be to your agent to get the skinny on you. And I can guarantee I'd Google you. (I Google every author I'm interested in.)

This is a long way of saying that the secret wouldn't stay secret for very long, at least with me. Because it can't. I need to know everything relevant to your writing career to devise a plan on why I want this book with my company, and you as one of my authors.

Would the fact that your 15 be a tipping point for editors? Maybe. But the writing still needs to stand on its own. So think of it as an icing-on-the-cake selling point. And as to how you and your agent agree to pitch, that's up to you.